> Extropians are simply optimists. Rather than faithlessly
>thinking that things are "going to hell in a hand-basket", they
>believe that things are getting better. Not only this, but they have
>faith that, through works, things will continue to get better at an at
>least exponential rate and they hope that there will be no limit to
>this progress. As long as there is any problem anywhere, like say,
>there is still a loved one stuck in hell (if there really is such a
>thing) or the grave or whatever, they will forever work, via any good
>means available to them, having faith that some day, some way or
>another, they might find or achieve a good way to solve the problem.
>If forcing the person to be good isn't a good way to get them out of
>hell, then they simply look and strive for some other way forever
>having faith that some other possible way exists.
I would disagree with your claim that this is a "faith" of extropians. This
particular extropian has no "faith" in such claims. My knowledge of
self-replicating systems, of complexity, of ecology, of sociology, of
technological progress has found many facts that convince me that overall, we
are progressing and improving, and that progress in such complicated systems
is very difficult to stop.
I recently stated my disagreement with the extropian terminology "dynamic
optimism" partly because it implies that extropian "optimism" results from
irrational faith rather than hard-headed realistic evaluation of fact.